CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With one suspicious snap of the steering wheel, Clint Bowyer changed the outcome of a race and maybe the championship.

Accidental or intentional, his spin in the closing laps at Richmond International Raceway set in motion a chain of events that has shrouded the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and raised questions about the potential for a team to manipulate pivotal moments of a race.

NASCAR president Mike Helton said before Sunday’s Truck Series race that officials in the scoring tower did not immediately see anything to believe Bowyer’s spin with seven laps remaining was suspicious. The spin came while Newman was leading and brought out the caution that set in motion a chain of events that cost Newman both the race and a berth in the 12-driver Chase field. He was battling Truex for the final berth.

“We didn’t see anything that indicated that anything like that was taking place. And it’s natural when everything was as close as it was between who was going to get in and not go in to scratch your heads and try to figure out and wonder why,” Helton said. “But we didn’t see anything initially (Saturday) night that indicated that, but certainly we’ll go back through all the video and everything to be sure.”

However, an ESPN replay that included communication between Bowyer and his team implied the spin was deliberate. Bowyer was shown the video after the race and denied that he spun intentionally, a claim he repeated throughout the postrace activities.

“We had a flat tire or something. It just snapped around,” Bowyer said.

In-car audio framed the situation as his crew goading him into spinning his car to bring out the yellow to prevent Newman from winning the race.

“Thirty-nine is going to win the race,” Bowyer was told over his radio.

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